Year 7 Cain House - Melbourne Grammar School

From the Headmaster
Last week’s Mid-year Concert, held in the Old Melburnians’ War Memorial Hall, was greatly enjoyed by an
appreciative audience. The Senior String Orchestra, conducted by Ms Christine Leslie-Pfitzner, played
the St Paul’s Suite by Gustav Holst which is a beautiful piece of music. The Senior Concert Band consists
of mostly Year 9 and 10 musicians, led by Conductor Mr Colin Doley, and they played several modern
pieces from ‘The Pirates of the Caribbean’ and music by Brian Hogg and David Schaffer. After the
interval, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, again conducted by Colin Doley, played two items, including a
melody of many of George Gershwin’s most famous songs. The last group was the Jazz Ensemble,
directed by Rob Glaeseman. They played music from Frank Foster, Pablo Beltran Ruiz, Nat King Cole
and Duke Ellington. A feature of their performance was the use of guest vocalists, David Holyoake (Yr 10,
Rs) and Seb Chesney (Yr 10, Be); Alex Gilham (Yr 9, Dn) played a solo piece on the trombone. I
congratulate all involved in this excellent music concert, especially Director of Music, Mr Philip Carmody.
This week celebrates National Volunteer Week and I am always delighted that at Grimwade, Wadhurst
and Senior School, we have many students and staff who volunteer their services to assist a wide range of
not-for-profit charities and other community groups. In this vein, Sunday sees the 15 th Anniversary
Memorial Fun Run for former MGS staff member, Reverend Adie Simondson, as staff, students, parents,
friends and OM’s walk or jog around the Tan in memory of the highly respected Wadhurst Chaplain who
was tragically killed in Africa. The Wadhurst Chapel has stained a glass window which commemorates
Adie. Proceeds from the fun run will go to the Adie Simondson Memorial Fund which maintains a student
scholarship with her former school, Diocesan School for Girls in Grahamstown, South Africa. The day
begins at 10am with a memorial service in the Wadhurst Chapel, followed by the run/walk at 11:30am.
The Senior School has a forthcoming visitor from Yale University in the United States. Their Associate
Director of Admissions will attend a breakfast on Thursday at 8am, followed by an information session.
There are growing numbers of Melbourne Grammar School students who are seeking overseas university
placements which, given our excellent VCE results and fine reputation, has meant that a number of them
have been sought after and accepted after by these prestigious institutions. The opportunity to study
overseas is a marvellous one, even for part of a degree or tertiary course.
This weekend’s APS fixtures produced some stunning results for Melbourne Grammar School teams.
Remarkably, all of the First teams recorded good wins this week and I was also able to gain a glimpse of
our future whilst watching the 9A soccer, hockey and football teams on the weekend at Flack Park. The
1 st V basketball team recorded an exceptional win against an unbeaten Caulfield team at MSAC and the
1 st XV enjoyed a tremendous experience of playing as a curtain raiser for the Rebels v Crusaders game at
AAMI Stadium against traditional rivals, Scotch College. Playing for the Bob Dalziel Shield, Melbourne
Grammar School played very well to record an emphatic victory, with Pat Toeta (Yr 11, He) winning the
player of the match award.
A Final Thought
The release of the Federal Government’s budget last week contained little specific information with
regards to school funding and even less so on the 41 recommendations put forward by the Gonski
Review. We are aware of the fact that the Federal Government has stated that they wish to implement a
new resource-based funding model to replace the old SES model. However, this requires a huge amount
of further research. The budget has set down $5 million for a further analysis of the Gonski
recommendations, which still requires an enormous financial commitment from all State Governments for
it to be enacted.